Compound bows include pulleys at the free ends of the bow limbs and carry cables or strands to connect the opposite ends of the bowstring. Because the pulleys lie within the same spatial plane as the bowstring and arrow, the arrow shaft will contact the intermediate strands when the arrow is nocked on the bowstring. Such contact with the cable strands will interfere with the flight of the arrow upon release.
This has led to the use of a deflection rod or cable guard which extends from a midpoint on the bow and is laterally offset from the plane of the bow and bowstring, so as to offset the cables or strands laterally from the plane of the arrow, to provide a clear and unencumbered path for the arrow's flight.
Initial cable guards simply utilize a bent rod for deflecting the intermediate cables or strands. However, the frictional contact of the cables with the rod would reduce the "speed" of return of the bowstring, thereby reducing the potential velocity of the arrow during release. For this reason, cable guides have been attached to the cable guard rods for reducing friction between the cables and the rod. The majority of such prior art cable guides are formed of plastic members with two guide grooves therein, one for each cable. Such grooved cable guides were not entirely effective because of the frictional forces generated between the cables and the guide groove surfaces, as well as between the guide and the rod during the slight longitudinal movement of the guide on the rod.
In order to further reduce such frictional forces, the prior art discloses rollers provided in the cable guide grooves, as well as rollers or other bearings supporting the cable guide on the guide rod.
However, even these more recent advancements for cable guides suffer several drawbacks. First, all such cable guides require that the cables be pulled back around the free end of the cable guard rod, either prior to connection to the cable guide, or while connected to the cable guide. This requirement is both annoying and inconvenient when using the bow.
In addition, the prior art wheeled cable guides were "heavy" reducing the potential velocity of an arrow, as well as expensive to manufacture.
Finally, the prior art guides conventionally use open grooves to guide the cables, thereby potentially permitting the cables to become dislodged from the cable guide during release of the arrow.